About the Arts at Oberlin

Founded in 1833, Oberlin is one of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges. Its Conservatory
of Music and its art museum have secured throughout the world Oberlin’s
reputation for artistic excellence. For those who live within driving distance of
Oberlin, it is a haven for the performing and visual arts and a citadel for the life of
the mind.

The Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated amid the intellectual
vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is renowned as a professional music school
of the highest caliber. With more than 500 free concerts and recitals each year, the
conservatory is one of the cornerstones of Oberlin’s cultural life.

Another cornerstone is the Allen Memorial Art Museum (AMAM), recognized for
its superlative collection and considered one of the finest college or university art
museums in the United States. Since its founding in 1917, the AMAM has been a
major educational and cultural asset of Oberlin College and northeast Ohio and
provides a wide range of high-quality exhibitions and programs that are free to all.

Since its founding, Oberlin’s halls have resonated with the voices of history—
Adlai Stevenson, Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In recent years,
guests of the Oberlin Convocation Series have contributed to the dialogue, setting
the current standard for engaging and dynamic lectures by such leading public
intellectuals and writers as Natasha Trethewey, Toni Morrison, Lisa Randall,
Diane Rehm and David Sedaris.

Called a “cradle of modern thought, beacon of culture” by Northern Ohio Live
magazine, Oberlin has enriched the Greater Cleveland community through
music and art, through theater and dance, and through inquiry and the intellect,
enlivening and enriching the human experience. The performing arts audiences,
museum patrons, and intellectually curious who attend Oberlin’s events are vital
to the cultural exchange with its artists and thinkers. Oberlin is grateful for your
attendance, your financial support, and your enthusiasm.

Welcome to Oberlin, where the creative vision is made real, the transformative
power of art is realized, and the important conversations of our society take place.

Concerto-round performance with the Cleveland Orchestra. Competition is presented by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Cleveland Orchestra and showcases the most promising young musicians from around the world. The competition provides more than $20,000 in prize money and concert engagements with orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai, China.